Pioneering mountaineer Peter Metcalf built Black Diamond into a successful climbing-gear business when nobody thought it could be done. But his dream of turning the outdoor industry into a force for nature remains tantalizingly elusive.

The Bush administration deserves credit for its "Water
2025" initiative, which provided grants that have helped the
Deschutes River Conservancy and the Central Oregon Irrigation
District begin restoring Oregon’s Deschutes River

The Park Service has always excelled at managing visitors,
and as global warming makes itself felt in Yosemite, Glacier and
other national treasures, the agency should use its interpretive
skills to explain what’s going on

The abandonment of the American Southwest by the Anasazi
700 years ago – and the destruction of New Orleans by
Hurricane Katrina today – show that all civilizations are
fragile, complex, and ultimately at the mercy of the
climate